Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 13 July 2016.
Vaughan Gething
Labour
3:04,
13 July 2016
I thank the Member for her question and her genuine interest in this area. We’ve had half a discussion about this and I’m sure we’ll have more discussions through the life of this Assembly term. You’ll be aware that we’re due to have an autism strategy. We had a consultation that concluded shortly after the election. We’re analysing the responses and we want to make sure that the action that we take is actually about improving the position for individuals and their families, so for the carer group around individuals with this developmental condition—it really does matter too. And, we’re investing new money in the service. At the end of this year, I expect us to be able to publish our new strategy and action plan with the investment that will go with that. I do believe that we will see improved outcomes for families and the people within them, because these are a range of conditions that many Members in this Chamber will understand, from either direct experience or from constituents—I certainly have members of my extended family, and so I do have some understanding of the impact this can have on changing the lives of whole groups of people around them. We want to make sure that our service provides the support that they would quite rightly expect.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.